NAME
setterm - set terminal attributes
SYNOPSIS
setterm [options]
DESCRIPTION
setterm writes to standard output a character string that will invoke the specified terminal capabilities. Where possible, terminfo is consulted to find the string to use. Some options (marked "virtual consoles only" below) do not correspond to a terminfo(5) capability. In these cases, if the terminal type is "con" or "linux", the string that invokes the specified capability on the PC Minix virtual console is output. Options that are not implemented by the terminal are ignored.
OPTIONS
For boolean options (on or off), the default is on.
Below, an 8-color can be black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, or white.
A 16-color can be an 8-color, or grey, or bright followed by red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, or white.
The various color options may be set independently, at least on virtual consoles, though the results of setting multiple modes (for example, --underline and --half-bright) are hardware-dependent.
The optional arguments are recommended with '=' (equals sign) and not space between the option and the argument. For example --option=argument. setterm can interpret the next non-option argument as an optional argument too.
--appcursorkeyson|off
--appendconsole_number
--background8-color|default
--blank[=0-60|force|poke]
The force argument keeps the screen blank even if a key is pressed.
The poke argument unblanks the screen.
--bfreq[=number]
--blength[=0-2000]
--blinkon|off
--boldon|off
--clear[=all|rest]
--clrtabs[=tab1 tab2 tab3 ...]
--cursoron|off
--default
--dump[=console_number]
--filefilename
--foreground8-color|default
--half-brighton|off
--hbcolor16-color
--initialize
--inversescreenon|off
--linewrapon|off
--msgon|off
--msglevel0-8
Virtual consoles only.
--powerdown[=0-60]
--powersavemode
vsync|on
hsync
powerdown
off
--regtabs[=1-160]
--repeaton|off
--reset
--resize
--reverseon|off
--store
--tabs[=tab1 tab2 tab3 ...]
--termterminal_name
--ulcolor16-color
--underlineon|off
-h, --help
-V, --version
WARNING
Use of setterm in combination with stdout redirection can have unexpected results, as some options operate on stdin. To prevent problems, always redirect both stdin and stdout to the same device.
COMPATIBILITY
Since version 2.25 setterm has support for long options with two hyphens, for example --help, beside the historical long options with a single hyphen, for example -help. In scripts it is better to use the backward-compatible single hyphen rather than the double hyphen. Currently there are no plans nor good reasons to discontinue single-hyphen compatibility.
BUGS
Differences between the Minix and Linux versions are not documented.
SEE ALSO
stty(1), tput(1), tty(4), terminfo(5)
REPORTING BUGS
For bug reports, use the issue tracker <https://github.com/util-linux/util-linux/issues>.
AVAILABILITY
The setterm command is part of the util-linux package which can be downloaded from Linux Kernel Archive <https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/>.